[Europe] Euro Commission tells EU applicant nations to respect GLBT rightsGLBT rights are a prominent topic in the European Commission’s Oct. 14 progress reports on the seven countries that are planning to join the European Union: Croatia, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Turkey, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, and Serbia and Kosovo.

[USA] [Blog/Commentary] The Washington Post Cross-Dressing Shoplifting Story MisfiresYesterday, the Washington Post published a story about two shoplifting suspects who were shot over the weekend by a Prince George’s County police officer. The suspects were shot after they attempted to drive away with the officer’s arm lodged in the door of their getaway car. But the Post story was not concerned with the facts of this botched escape—the newspaper had already covered the particulars of the incident a day earlier. The follow-up amounted to a lengthy correction of one fact: the gender of the wounded suspects.

[Uruguay] Victory for Transpeople in UruguayOn Oct. 12, the Senate in Uruguay unanimously passed a bill permitting transsexuals to change their names and genders on all official documents, including birth certificates. President Tabare Vasquez is expected to sign the bill into law shortly.